CIO: HP ProLiant G7 Servers: 4P Performance at 2P Economics

Overview: Over the years, the price performance of four-processor servers and server
blades has been a sticking point for many enterprise IT executives looking to shift certain applications and workloads to higher-end systems.

The problem was this: While a 4P server would give them twice as much
performance as a 2P server, they couldn’t justify its premium price tag.
Proportionately, the 4P price went up faster than performance.

The issue stemmed from historical pricing models that placed higher dollar
values on processors destined for 4P servers. Because the 4P-capable
processors carried higher price tags, 4P servers were costlier to build than
their 2P counterparts. And those higher costs, of course, manifested themselves in premium pricing on 4P servers.

But for HP , that pricing story is history.

HP now delivers high-performance 4P servers at a 2P value. This stems from
its decision to build its latest-generation servers, the G7 line, using groundbreaking AMD Opteron™ 6100 Series processors.